


A Friend in Me

by WoodlandGoddess1



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 13:52:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17225234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WoodlandGoddess1/pseuds/WoodlandGoddess1
Summary: She chased after Parker quietly, but quickly, knowing she needed to keep on his tail for as long as possible. Something big was going on.





	A Friend in Me

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Spiderman: Homecoming for the first time this week and this fic was the result.
> 
> This fic is like a behind-the-scenes look at Spiderman, from Michelle's POV.
> 
> It's my first Marvel fic ever, so...please be kind.

MJ felt her stomach twist with alarm when Parker appeared. He looked pale — and not his usual brand of pale — as he stood on the other side of the doors and stared through the window. The shade on his face now was unsettling; it looked like he’d seen a ghost. Or someone had just died in front of him. That wasn’t a colour she wanted to see on his face again.

Not after Ben.

MJ knew she had to do something. She had to knock some colour back into him. She let instincts guide her and found herself flipping the bird in an attempt to cheer him up: her unusual antics had amused him since she’d transferred to Midtown. But it didn’t work this time. He didn’t even notice her. She watched him slip through the doors and cross the dancefloor without acknowledging them.

Parker headed straight for Liz. His steps made no sound. Several lights flashed in his face as the other students danced and he didn’t notice them in the least. His attention was fastened upon Liz and nothing else mattered to him.

MJ watched them closely, not even bothering to hide her distraction from those around her this time. She didn’t care if Ned and the others knew she was watching Parker now; finding out the reason for the unnatural paleness of his face was more important. She grew more unnerved as Parker bolted from Homecoming, leaving Liz hurt and confused in his wake. MJ didn’t hesitate. She didn’t pause to think and consider her options. She ran after him immediately, her small and sensible heels clicking against the floorboards beneath the music pumping through the speakers. She crashed through the doors on the far side moments after him and slowed abruptly, not wanting to spook him.

Her heart jumped into her throat as she looked around for him.

MJ followed the short corridor leading off from the dancehall and turned the corner to see Parker ripping his tie from around his neck as he sprinted down the next corridor. Her mouth dropped open around a strangled gasp as he stopped near his locker and lifted the whole damn set like it was a paper bag.

_I knew it._ MJ stared at his back as he grabbed a bundle — a small duffel bag or something similar — with one hand and let the lockers fall with a loud thump before continuing his frantic sprint down the corridor. The tiniest glimmer of smugness filtered through her as the suspicions she’d developed in D.C. were vindicated. She knew she’d been right about the voice that emanated from behind the suit mere moments before Spiderman threw himself into action at the Washington Monument. _I fucking knew it!_

MJ didn’t stand around in the corridor for long. She chased after Parker quietly, but quickly, knowing she needed to keep on his tail for as long as possible. Something big was going on — nothing short of total destruction would put a look like that on the face of a superhero. She picked up his tie as she followed him and his jacket soon after. She swallowed the snort of disbelief as she realised that Parker was terrible at keeping secrets: he was changing into his vigilante clothing in a monitored building!

She’d have to take care of that.

_You can handle that later_ , MJ reminded herself as she picked up one polished shoe and then the other. The footage would have to wait: she had to hide the immediate evidence first or Parker would have news crews harassing his Aunt May, and that woman didn’t need the media attention after what happened to Ben.

_Stark took his toy_ , MJ realised between one heartbeat and the next as Parker changed into the most ridiculous pair of blue trackpants and a red hoodie with surprising ease. It didn’t take much effort to correlate the cessation of the Stark Internship with the sudden absence of the high-tech suit and the lack of Spiderman on the streets. Not to mention the media conference she’d seen when she was a child. MJ pursed her lips as a few choice words for Stark flashed through her head.

Taking the high-tech suit could get Parker hurt in a dangerous situation.

Or worse.

MJ wasn’t going to let that happen.

Funny, how standing below the Washington Monument made her realise that she didn’t want to lose those losers. Parker and the others were _her_ losers and she wasn’t going to let total destruction get between them now.

MJ gritted her teeth and quickened her pace as Parker turned a corner and sprinted for the fire-door at the end of the next corridor. It would lead him out of the building, out into the parking lot where the school buses sat overnight. MJ picked up the discarded pants from his Homecoming suit and tossed the whole bundle of his clothes into the janitors’ closet a moment or so before Parker burst out through the door and into the parking lot outside.

The door had just swung closed behind him when a pained shout came from the other side. Something large hit the ground with a loud thump. Something much smaller skittered across the tarmac.

_His web slingers_ , MJ realised in a panic as she careened to a stop before she crashed through the door and alerted the bad guy, remembering the small devices she’d seen Parker strap to his wrists as he ran through the school. Her heart tried to punch a hole through her chest as she realised the loss of those devices was the loss of an advantage in a fight. A rapid flash of aborted conversations flicked through her head and MJ turned immediately, tearing down the corridor with a determination that would have startled even her under less stressful circumstances. She burst back into the dancehall a minute or so later and made a beeline for Ned — the one person in the whole school that had to _know_.

The conversations that stopped whenever MJ appeared couldn’t be coincidental.

Not now.

MJ grabbed his arm and hauled him away, her grip tight and unrelenting. She ignored his spluttered protests. She couldn’t explain. Not until the dancehall was out of sight. Perhaps not until Parker was safe and sound. There was no telling how long Parker would last without the advantage his webs gave him.

“Spiderman — Parker — _whatever_ he fucking wants to be called — is in trouble.” MJ forced the words out as she hauled Ned around the second corner and ran down the third corridor. She ignored how out of breath she was. How out of breath Ned was. It wasn’t important compared to the pained noises coming through the door at the far end of the corridor. “Whoever Parker is after knows who he is. Someone was waiting for him in the parking lot —”

“What?!”

“I don’t have time to explain!” MJ careened to a stop and grabbed the fire-door. She pulled it open slowly, carefully, peering around the edge as she struggled to muffle her rapid breathing. It wouldn’t do to alert the asshole with the glowing device strapped to his arm to their presence. Her voice dropped to a frantic whisper. “You have to help Parker! He doesn’t have his web slingers!”

Ned paled and nodded quickly, reaching for the door without hesitation.

MJ couldn’t help but be surprised at how quick he was to swallow his own fear. Doing so wasn’t easy; most people would run the other way, she knew. She touched his arm and gave him an encouraging nod before whispering, “Parker was caught on camera. I have to get rid of the evidence before someone else finds out. I’ll be back as fast as I can. Ned…be careful!”

Ned didn’t answer. He drew in a tremulous breath instead and slipped out through the door without a word.

MJ stared at the door for a second and then turned away, darting back down the corridor: she had some footage to sabotage. She found the door was locked when she reached the main office. She pinched the bridge of her nose. Briefly, she cursed the fact that she didn’t know how to pick locks. Scowling, MJ ripped off her shoes and checked for onlookers before squaring up and giving the door a hard kick near the handle. She winced upon hearing a loud crack as wood splintered beneath the force. The door didn’t give completely, but she knew another hard kick would do the trick.

MJ looked around once more — she couldn’t be too careful when it came to unwanted attention — and directed another kick at the weakened spot. The door gave with another loud crack and MJ darted forward immediately, her heels swinging from her hands as she pushed the door open. She pressed the door closed behind her and made a beeline for the computer interfacing with the feed from the cameras.

A cold sweat broke out across her skin as MJ passed cream walls and hardwood cupboards before settling into the vacant swivel chair at the far side of the room. Her fingers trembled a fraction as she turned on the monitor and accessed the administrator controls with the password. She’d memorised the password a few weeks earlier when she’d seen Mr Harrington sign into the desktop in the decathlon room.

She hadn’t thought it would be useful at the time.

But she was glad she’d memorised it now. All the desktops on campus were connected: accessing the administrator controls of one computer could link the user to the entire network where required.

It would be essential tonight.

MJ released a breath as she brought up the feed from the cameras and linked into the editing software in the AV club. She jumped straight into the deep end as she searched through the feed for evidence of Parker and his extracurricular activities. She spliced the recordings here and there and inserted edited sequences to blend into the overall footage before wriggling into the cloud and replacing the stored data with the sabotaged feed. She removed the evidence of Parker and several damning glimmers of conversation between Parker, Ned and herself. Penultimately, she removed the evidence of herself kicking the door open and experienced a mild pang of regret: the footage made her look badass.

Finally, MJ set one last edited sequence to replace the incoming feed of the parking lot and the corridor outside the main office. She erased the evidence of her interference before signing out and leaving the main office on silent feet. She slipped her heels back on and walked down the corridor slowly, allowing her breathing to return to normal. The evidence of her stress melted away; no one would notice a difference now. That thought brought a faint smile to her face as she walked past the short corridor leading into Homecoming dance.

MJ turned the last corner to see Ned coming back through the door. Her heart gave a leap as he grinned at her and raised his thumbs to emphasis his success without hesitation. A wave of relief washed through her.  She quickened her pace and reached him in seconds. She squashed the urge to give him a hug. MJ didn’t _hug_ people.

“Is he gone?”

“Yeah.” Ned nodded. He glanced at the cameras monitoring the hallway, adding quietly, “He had something to do. Something important. How was…the other thing?”

“Sorted.” MJ turned and started walking, her pace driven. She let Ned fall into step beside her. She gave him a meaningful stare and gestured between them. The action was discreet. But Ned noticed it before her hand fell back to her side. “You can’t tell him about this.”

Ned looked back her and his face scrunched with dubious contemplation. He shook his head and said quietly, “I feel like I should tell him. This is important.”

“It _is_ important. Just as important as the other thing,” MJ said seriously, her stare still meaningful. Her voice softened as she continued carefully, hoping to get her point across without dropping names. “But almost no one knows about that part. I want to keep it that way; the more people who know, the more people become endangered. He can’t know about this. If he knows…someone else might find out and that wouldn’t be good for those who know me. It would put them at risk. Understand?”

“…I guess.”

“Glad to hear it.” MJ patted his arm in encouragement and smiled brightly, raising her other hand to tuck a loose curl behind her ear. “Come on. I think we deserve a good time after this. I’m going to grab some of that spiked punch. You want some?”

“I can’t.” Ned shook his head quickly, regret flashing across his face. He looked around before confessing, “He needs me in the chair.”

MJ released a breath and said sharply, “Get going then. He’ll need help before he knows it. We’ll talk later.”

“We will?”

“Absolutely,” MJ said firmly, turning the corner and heading toward the Homecoming dance. Ned didn’t follow her. MJ didn’t look back at him as she raised a hand in dismissal before disappearing through the doors.

 

* * *

 

“I know I’m a little ahead of the game,” Mr Harrington said seriously, the evidence of their triumph in D.C. sitting beside him. It had been out in the open ever since the team returned to the school. MJ had witnessed Mr Harrington petting it a few times since then. Mr Harrington unclasped his hands now briefly, looking at each of them as he continued. “But we will need a new team captain….so, I am appointing Michelle.”

MJ blinked in surprise and raised her head at the sound of her name. A few words of awkward gratitude escaped her. She glanced around the table awkwardly, adding, “M-my friends call me MJ.”

Ned looked at her in amused surprise. It was clear that he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “I thought you didn’t have any friends.”

MJ shared a glance with Ned and looked away, remembering the pair of them working together to protect Parker at the Homecoming dance. She remembered the moment she’d almost lost those losers on her team in D.C. She focused her attention on Parker at the other side of the table and said awkwardly, “I didn’t.”

It couldn’t be denied: there were people she didn’t want to be without now.


End file.
